A voice processing system comprehends human language thereby allowing a user to give commands or make requests to the system by speaking in a human language and having the system respond by voice.
An airline's departure and arrival voice processing system is an example of a rudimentary voice processing system. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary static call flow in a voice user interface. Referring to FIG. 1, the user interface illustrated is typical of the kind of static user interface that a user might encounter when using a voice processing system built using previous technology. The user interface welcomes the user and then presents two options to the user. A first voice prompt 102 asks the user to state whether the user's flight is arriving or departing. The user verbally responds by stating whether the flight is arriving or departing. After receiving the user's response, a voice prompt 104 asks the user to state the flight number of interest. The user states the flight number. The system and the user repeat this process to obtain the flight's departure/arrival date 106 and the flight's arrival/departure city 108. Next, the voice processing system repeats the information back to the user to ensure that the system comprehends the user's request. The system then retrieves that particular flight's information from a database 110. Finally, the system communicates the retrieved flight information to the user.
The example voice processing system has a static user interface structure. The system delivers information to the user based on the user's requests or commands, not based on the system possessing knowledge regarding the user. In this example, the voice processing system must complete the full sequence of voice prompts before retrieving the desired information. Thus, the user must take the time to navigate through those successive voice prompts.
This system does not deliver content to the user based on the system having any knowledge about the user. The airline system possesses knowledge about the user's upcoming flight plans, for example, through the user's reservation number or frequent flyer account number. However, the system forces the user to step through the static call flow for each segment of the trip. Thus, if the user has a connecting flight, then the user must give the system the user's information and step through the static call flow again. Additionally, although the airline system possesses knowledge of the user's flight plans, the system does not proactively notify the user of a schedule conflict, such as a flight delay on the second portion of the user's trip, which affects the rest of the user's flight plans.
Users of voice processing systems are mobile. The mobile user may access the voice processing system from many locations such as a moving vehicle, a quiet office, a noisy airport, etc. However, current voice processing systems do not alter their privacy and security requirements or operational characteristics based on environmental characteristics. This is a problem for the mobile user who accesses the system from a variety of devices and in a variety of circumstances. In these situations, the behavior of the system should change to be more useful, understandable, private and secure.
Some voice processing systems allow limited customization of the structure of the voice user interface and the content that is delivered to the user. However, after the user interface and content is customized, then the user interface and content that the user interface delivers remains static. Users may be forced to skim through excessive amounts of non-pertinent information before hearing the information most important to them. When the system forces the user to skim through non-pertinent information, then two problems arise: 1) the user remains connected to the system longer, thereby, tying up more system resources; and 2) the user becomes frustrated with the system.
The invention provides a solution to some of these disadvantages that exist with these current systems.
While the invention is subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. The invention should be understood to not be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.